Think I’ll just get an aftermarket set next time! That took 2 hours and I have a good blister to show for it from the hand drill.
Now that is out the way, a plan seems to have come together. I’ve managed to complete eight build steps at once, and here is the evidence!

I dry brushed the silver onto the wheels, seemed to be the most logical way of doing it. I did see it done with a silver pen in a magazine, but I don’t have one…
The decals were great for the green wheel rims, no problem at all with them. I tried my best to replicate the hot metal effect on the manifold using alclad paints. It’s not quite the real thing, but I’m happy enough with them. They should look a bit better in natural lighting when I take the photos of the final build.

The back wheel, chain and brake disc is all held onto the swing arm with a single screw. No glue required! I gave the tyres a bit of a going over with a sanding stick. There is a seam that needs removed from the middle of each tyre, but then you get a nice realistic worn look to them.

The back swing arm screws neatly into place onto the frame and engine block creating working suspension! I’m really impressed with this kit might I add… The way the new Tamiya bike kits screw together without the need for any glue is fantastic. The Panigale built up the same, and I still have the new Honda GP bike in the stash, I’m assuming that will be equally as impressive.
Well that is all the progress for now, best crack on with the front forks.

So the front forks were nearly done, but then there was this incident where I dropped one while the paint was still wet… Fixable, but not tonight!
I’ve got a few sub assemblies done though so I’ll post some pics of them for now. The front wheel is ready to go now, as is the carbon dash and speedometer. The carbon decals are going on fine as well, which is always a relief.

Just need the front forks now and I’ll be able to bring a few sub assemblies together. I’ve started applying the many carbon fibre decals to the head stock. There are many grooves and contours to get into with the bikes very angular appearance. This is still very much in it’s infancy though, there is still a lot of cleaning up needed from the micro sol.